String Quartets

Endellion String Quartet - Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, Quintets and fragments (2009) (10 CDs Box Set)

Endellion String Quartet - Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, Quintets and fragments (2009) (10 CDs Box Set)
EAC Rip | FLAC (Image+.cue, log) | 10 CDs, 10:51:01 min | 2,69 Gb | Scans ->17 mb
Genre: Classical / Label: Warner Classics

This is a very complete set indeed. It includes all the quartets in the latest edition prepared by Jonathan Del Mar which restores many important markings by Beethoven and which has been done in collaboration with the Endellion Quartet. Both versions of the first quartet or included as well as Beethoven's quartet arrangement of the piano sonata Op. 14 no. 1. the Gross Fuge, both string quintets plus other works for string quartet including the two prelude and fugues.
Doric String Quartet - Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartets, Op.76 (2016) 2CDs

Doric String Quartet - Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartets, Op.76 (2016) 2CDs
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 640 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 340 Mb | Artwork included
Genre: Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 10886 | Time: 02:26:59

This is the second volume in the Doric String Quartet’s series devoted to Haydn’s String Quartets. Op. 76 turned out to be the last full set of six string quartets that Haydn was to compose. While they were written over the period 1796-97, they were not published until 1799. They had been commissioned by Count Joseph Erdödy, and such arrangements often entailed, as in this case, a period of time during which the works were reserved for that person’s exclusive use and enjoyment. The composition of Op. 76 coincided with Haydn’s work on Die Schöpfung and the first few of the six masses which Haydn wrote for the name day of Princess Maria Hermenegild Esterházy, and one can readily imagine that such compositional preoccupations rubbed off onto the composition of the quartets. However, that cannot be equated with a particular predominant ‘opus character’, a feature of some of Haydn’s previous sets. Rather – like Op. 20, also recently recorded by the Doric String Quartet (CHAN10831(2)) – the quartets seem to be most remarkable for their sheer variety.
Emerson String Quartet - R. Schumann: String Quartets Nos. 1-3, Op. 41 (2020)

Emerson String Quartet - R. Schumann: String Quartets Nos. 1-3, Op. 41 (2020)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 338 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 179 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:16:44
Classical | Label: PEntatone

The Emerson String Quartet makes its PENTATONE debut with a recording of Schumann’s three string quartets. Penned in the summer of 1842 during an exceptional peak of creativity, these quartets formed the beginning of a six-month surge during which most of Schumann’s best chamber music saw the light. Inspired by the example of Beethoven, Schumann’s quartets display a mastery of traditional forms, combined with typically Schumannian fantasy and lyricism, particularly in the inner movements. As such, they underline a new level of maturity in Schumann’s artistic development, surpassing the fantastical aesthetic of previous years.
Juilliard String Quartet, Christopher Oldfather - Elliott Carter: The Four String Quartets, Duo For Violin and Piano (1991) 2CD

Elliott Carter: The Four String Quartets, Duo For Violin and Piano (1991) 2CDs
Juilliard String Quartet; Christopher Oldfather, piano

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 603 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 330 Mb | Scans included
Classical, Contemporary, Avant-Garde | Label: Sony Classical | # S2K 47229 | 02:16:59

These quartets are Juilliard specialties, and anyone wanting to hear this music played with a near ideal combination of virtuosity and humanity need look no further. Carter's quartets are not for the musically faint of heart: they are uncompromisingly thorny, intricate pieces that require lots of intense, dedicated listening. Very few people doubt their seriousness–or even their claims to musical greatness–but just as few people enjoy listening to them. Perhaps this spectacular set will encourage the adventurous to give them a shot. They're worth the time.
Carpe Diem String Quartet - Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev: Complete String Quartets Vol. 1 (2007)

Carpe Diem String Quartet - Taneyev: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 3 (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 278 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 143 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Naxos | # 8.570437 | Time: 01:01:37

A pupil of Tchaikovsky, whom he replaced at the Moscow Conservatory, Sergey Taneyev was a virtuoso pianist and a teacher of Scriabin and Rachmaninov. Although as a composer Taneyev is best known today for his four symphonies, he also composed a sizeable body of chamber music, including six String Quartets. These beautifully crafted works are marked by technical assurance at every turn, as well as dramatic inspiration and intense lyricism. The masterly five-movement Quartet No. 1, in fact Taneyev’s Fifth, includes two notable slow movements, while the lighter Quartet No. 3 features a graceful theme with eight variations, alternately playful and contemplative.
Cecilia String Quartet - Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartets, Op.44 Nos. 1, 2 (2015) [Re-Up]

Cecilia String Quartet - Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartets, Op.44 Nos. 1, 2 (2015)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 260 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 121 Mb | Artwork included
Genre: Classical | Label: Analekta | # AN29844 | 00:45:05

GRAMOPHONE Magazine Editor's Choice - February 2016. The Cecilia String Quartet's performances have been hailed as “powerful” (Chicago Sun- Times) and their Analekta albums were acclaimed for their “deeply felt imperativeness” (The Strad), and applauded for “unleashing the music’s ecstasy and angst” (Gramophone Magazine). For this new recording, the CSQ chose to record two of the three quartets of Felix Mendelssohn's Op. 44, which are the centrepiece of his mature string quartets. He wrote them in the years 1837-38, starting composition at the age of 28, when his fame in the international musical community was rapidly growing. Elegant and irresistible!
Doric String Quartet - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartets, Vol. 1 - The Prussian Quartets (2021)

Doric String Quartet - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartets, Vol. 1 - The Prussian Quartets (2021)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 411 Mb | Total time: 90:00 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 20249(2) | Recorded: 2020

Having concluded its Haydn cycle, the Doric String Quartet plunges into Mozart, beginning late in the composer's career with the three so-called "Prussian" string quartets. These are noted for having been written at the behest of a cello-playing nobleman, for whom Mozart wrote especially elaborate cello parts. Those are placed in the service of dense contrapuntal webs that pose unusual challenges for the performers. Should these quartets be severe? Light-hearted? There is quite a range, probably more than for the other Mozart quartets.
Emerson String Quartet - Ludwig van Beethoven: The String Quartets [7CDs] (1997)

Emerson String Quartet - Ludwig van Beethoven: The String Quartets [7CDs] (1997)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 2.04 Gb | Total time: 08:11:09 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophon | # 447 075-2 | Recorded: 1994-1995

The nine-time GRAMMY Award-winning Emerson String Quartet has firmly established its authority in interpreting Beethoven’s string quartets since its first Beethoven Cycle performed in 1980 through its complete recording of his quartets on Deutsche Grammophon which won a 1998 GRAMMY Award.
Carpe Diem String Quartet - Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 2 (Nos. 2 and 4) (2011)

Carpe Diem String Quartet - Sergey Taneyev: String Quartets Nos. 2 and 4 (2011)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 362 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 168 Mb | Artwork included
Genre: Classical | Label: Naxos | # 8.572421 | Time: 01:13:08

The Carpe Diem String Quartet’s first volume of Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev’s string quartets (Nos. 1 & 3 – 8.570437) gained critical accolades both for the revival of this important repertoire and for the ensemble’s sensitive and assured interpretations. A gift to musicians and listeners in search of rewarding new repertoire, Taneyev’s Second and Fourth String Quartets are masterfully crafted, the former piece possessing the inner energy of Beethoven, the latter being his most dramatic quartet. Both quartets impress with their unexpected harmonic combinations, wealth of ideas and mastery of form.
Vilnius String Quartet - Jurgis Karnavičius: String Quartets Nos. 3 & 4 (2021)

Vilnius String Quartet - Jurgis Karnavičius: String Quartets Nos. 3 & 4 (2021)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 278 Mb | Total time: 62:02 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Ondine| # ODE 1387-2 | Recorded: 2020

The first volume of the premiere recordings of Jurgis Karnavičius’ (1884–1941) string quartets performed by the Vilnius String Quartet resulted in a growing number of excellent album reviews. It included the composer's romantic and folkmusic-inspired first two quartets. This second volume includes the composer’s last two quartets: Nos. 3 & 4 which are more expressive and modern in nature. Karnavičius wrote his four impressive string quartets during his study and teaching years in St. Petersburg during the 1910s and 1920s, filling the chronological and stylistic gap between the String Quartets of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.